DIARMUID Ó Mathúnas are confident their decision to join the county hurling leagues will help take them to the next level.
The reigning Carbery junior A hurling champions will line out in Division 7 of the county league with the guarantee of games against better quality opposition than they would play in the Carbery junior hurling league.
By competing in Division 7, the Castletownkenneigh club will join county premier junior championship teams Meelin, Nemo Rangers and St Finbarr’s second team as well as fellow junior A sides Douglas, Killeagh (both seconds), Passage West, Killavullen, Ballinora and Kilshannig in the league.
Mathúnas Footballer of the Year Jack O'Callaghan receving his award from club great Teddy Lordan.
Mathúnas selector Pat Lucey can’t wait for the new venture.
‘We are really excited. These will be great games for our lads. Really tough games but that’s what you want and that’s the only way you are going to improve, by playing in these games,’ Lucey told The Southern Star.
‘We just took a chance and we approached the county board in relation to the county league. The fact that the top five leagues out of the seven had ten teams and divisions six and seven had only eight teams, we wondered if they could make ten teams out of the last two as well and it would bring four more teams into it. Thankfully, they agreed to it.’
Mathúnas begin their Division 7 campaign on Sunday, March 9th at home to their conquerors in the 2024 Cork JAHC, Ballinora. It was a comfortable win for the Muskerry club, 2-18 to 0-12, in that county quarter-final.
Mathúnas will also welcome Nemo Rangers, Passage West, Kilshannig and Killeagh to their home turf.
Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas Players' Player of the Year Kevin O'Donovan receiving his award from club legend Teddy Lordan.
‘Five of those teams will have to come to Castletown on a Sunday morning. We had brilliant support all last year and hopefully with games like these, they’ll all come out and support us again,’ Lucey added.
‘No disrespect to the Carbery league, but these games would be of better standard. Plus, if you get to play these games, you don’t have to be going around looking for challenge games. It’s nice to play someone different because we’re used to playing the same gangs the whole time. We’ll see different game plans and you might actually learn something out of it as well.’
Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas' Hurler of the Year Sean Crowley with club legend Teddy Lordan.
The Castletown team enjoyed a memorable 2024 season and with defending their Carbery crown high on their to-do list, regular games in the county league will certainly boost their title hopes
‘I think we’ll learn more by playing better teams. The likes of the Barrs’ second team would be excellent. Douglas’ second team, Killeagh (second team). They’ll all be great games, and that’s where you learn,’ Lucey said.
‘We played four or five challenge games last year against teams from the city and we learned a lot from it. We knew midway through the year that we had to up our work-rate, seeing these other teams. Our work-rate really did go up, which was great. In hindsight, that’s what probably won West Cork for us. We were never beaten, even when Bal got ahead of us. The heads never went down and we kept battling,’ the selector said.
